Due to recent advancements in technology, home appliances are increasingly including “smart” features that are capable of performing intelligent or complex tasks in addition to their traditional functionality. One challenge presented by such advanced functionality, however, is to provide the advanced features without burdening the users with onerous interaction with the technology.
As an example, certain appliances can act as a WiFi Access Point or otherwise host a wireless network. In such fashion, the appliances can provide one or more computing devices (e.g. a smartphone, tablet, or home energy manager) with access to a local or wide area network (e.g. the Internet).
However, existing systems may require the operator of the computing device to manually identify the network hosted by the appliance. For example, the operator may be required to manually enter the network name or SSID. Manual entry of network information can be time consuming, tedious, and prone to error.
As another example, the operator may be required to select the network hosted by the appliance from a list or other device menu. However, interaction with various menus or other system controls of the computing device can be time consuming or challenging, particularly for a novice user.
In certain other systems, selection of a particular network may not be required. Instead, the computing device may simply sequentially attempt to join each and every available network until a successful connection is encountered. However, this process of “trial and error” can result in a lengthy waiting time for the user, particularly in densely populated areas where a large number of “incorrect” networks are available for attempted connection.
Further, using such process of trial and error, the computing device may inappropriately cease searching when it connects to an incorrect network. For example, if a neighbor has configured her home network to allow connection without a password, then the computing device may successfully connect to such network and incorrectly assume that the appropriate network has been joined.
Therefore, systems and methods for enhanced identification of networks provided by appliances are desirable. In particular, systems and methods that provide fast, reliable, and user-friendly identification of appliance-hosted networks are needed.